I have never celebrated Chinese New Year or seen it as a significant event, but this year, since we’re living in a Chinese state, Lyall and I decided to flee!

We have a long weekend, and the 8 month volunteers have just arrived so Reagan and Busby invited us to Jeli for a Chinese New Year BBQ, and a chance to meet the new volunteers. We accepted the invite, but no one else did so we haven’t actually met the PT8’s yet!

Early on Saturday morning, we got on the bus (after buying and lugging an oven around! Long story, best not to ask!) and were on our way to Jeli.

We got off outside the school, dumped the oven on them and made them carry it up the horrendous hills and ridiculous number of stairs to their house.

The BBQ consisted of frying a couple of burgers, trying to make mashed potato and cooking some soggy chips in their oven. It was wonderful! We also tried some Chinese snacks. 

On Sunday, we went to the bus station to buy our tickets back. Unfortunately, they were sold out for Monday so had leave late Sunday night. 

We headed into to Tanah Merah, the nearest town to Jeli. We had lunch, did some shopping then went back to school. We had the left over ‘BBQ’ then went back to the bus station to get our bus.

When we got to the station, the place was in darkness and we were the only ones there. It was slightly terrifying. An hour later, the bus finally showed up. We asked him to stop at our school since we would be driving past it anyway. He drove straight past MRSM Lenggong and stopped at MRSM Kuala Kangsar instead! We told him just to keep going all the way in to Kuala Kangsar so that we could see if there were any taxis in the rank. There weren’t..

We realised that we only had 2 hours to wait for the first bus back to Lenggong (we arrived in KK at 4am!) so we just sat and prepared to wait. About half an hour later, a taxi showed up in the rank. We cried a bit with happiness and he brought us to school.

In the taxi, Lyall told me she didn’t have the keys. Not ideal when it’s 5 in the morning, the housemates are either asleep or back at home, and you just want to collapse into bed!

We slept in the sick bay which is right next to our house. I woke up, knocked on our door and there was no answer. Went across to the school shop as they’re the only ones with the spare keys, but it was shut! 

Currently, Lyall is still asleep and I’m sitting outside my house praying one of our housemates comes back soon and let’s me in because I’m dying to shower and I’m starting to need the toilet and ours is the only one with toilet paper!! 

All 3 of our housemates live about 7 or 8 hours away so the chances of me still sitting out here at midnight tonight is highly possible! Wish me luck!

Today marks 5 months since moving here. It’s crazy to think we’ve been here for almost half the year already.

The last couple of months have been hectic. We’ve been on our travels and we’ve started school again. 

I have a lot more classes now and I’ve been involved in debate club.

There isn’t much to tell you as nothing major has happened, but as my dad has just informed me, it’s 10 weeks today until they come out!

Happy 5 month anniversary guys xo

So we’ve all gone our separate ways and are back at our schools now. For Lyall and I, our classes don’t start until next week so we’ve another week off!

We ended our holiday with a high. The last stop on our journey was Phuket.
Phuket is another beachy area, so guess what we did? That’s right, we lay on the beach!

We spent a day at an elephant sanctuary and it was one of the best experiences of my life! We got to feed the elephants, wash the elephants in a mud bath, and play with them in a slightly less muddy pool! It was so much fun.

We saw the New Year with Chinese lanterns and fireworks on the beach, and had a great night.

Unfortunately, our flight back to KL was at 8 the next morning so we went about 30 hours without sleep!

We spent a night in KL, then left each other. It’s going to be weird not having everyone around anymore, but we have another holiday in March. 

I had a great time, but it went far too quickly. I’m currently sitting in assembly with no idea what’s going on, talking to Amy about her holiday to the UK. I’m surprised she didn’t die of hypothermia to be honest!

Thank you to everyone for making this experience possible, and all the best for 2017.